Posted on 09/22/2003 3:24:30 PM PDT by scouse
Mr D'Agata received a rare and special -- albeit mysterious -- gift on his porch from what was Hurricane Isabel Friday.
About 10 a.m. he was sitting on his porch reading a newspaper when he heard a sudden burst.
"I thought it was hail and I said to my wife, ‘Ginger, it’s hailing,’" he said. "I went back to reading my paper and then I saw the things were still there and were not melting. I went out and saw hundred of these white things."
The ‘things’ appeared to be eggs of some sort, the size of a pearl, he said.
"They are white with what looks like eyes in the middle. They looked like salamanders or barley," D’Agata said. "Ginger picked one up and it was slimy."
Not knowing what the creatures were, he called Berlin Animal Control officer Jan Lund. Lund and D’Agata brought some of the hundreds of eggs left on his porch to the Museum at Hungerford Park.
"We were told whatever the eggs were, they were not from Connecticut because nothing like that is hatching this time of year," D’Agata said. "They said it was brought in from Hurricane Isabel. He said they could be alligator eggs."
From there, D’Agata brought the jar to Central Connecticut State University.
"They didn’t know what they were either," D’Agata said. "I joked that they could be aliens. They came from the sky with the rain and not the wind."
Later CCSU representatives came to D’Agata’s home and took more samples in a jar with rain water.
"At this point we are still trying to determine what species it is. We have a couple of graduate students who have more experience researching it, but they still don’t have a specific identification," said Ruth Rollin, chairman of the CCSU biological department. "It’s unusual for eggs to be out of water. It does initially look like the egg of an amphibian such as a frog but we need to continue researching to see if that is correct."
Whatever the eggs are, D’Agata said, when the weather cleared up by afternoon Friday the eggs seem to disintegrate or disappear.
"I never saw anything like it in my whole life," D’Agata said. "It’s amazing. People on either side of my home do not have these eggs."
D’Agata is keeping a few in a jar to see if they hatch.
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